The entire text of “A Christmas Carol” is and has been for a long time listed under Inspirations on the Ethics Alarms homepage. If you haven’t read it (preferably out loud, to your family) recently, I urge you to do so. It is wonderful, and still, after all the movies and TV specials and songs and rival Christmas-themed stories, the best of the genre. It is also delightful literature, and, because I am an incurable romantic, a sap, and a Christmas addict, the story and Dickens’ telling of it gets to me every time.
I just realized that the last time I directed a production that wasn’t my own, it was a staged reading of “A Christmas Carol.” I miss directing greatly—no one has been clamoring for my comeback—so it that was my last hurrah, I can live with that. “A Christmas Carol” is, after all, one of the greatest ethics tales of all.
The first version of the film adaptations of “A Christmas Carol” I saw when I was knee-high to Robert Reich was the version starring Alistair Sim. Many aficionados of “A Christmas Carol” movies think it is still the best, and I won’t argue with them. Because the movie is in black and white and has been superseded by so many other versions, it is hard to find it on TV now except for the streaming services. Even the much inferior version starring Reginald Owen (with the entire Lockhart family, including young pre-“Lassie,” pre-“Lost in Space” June, as the Cratchits) is shown more than the classic Sim film. In these cynical times, the version of “A Christmas Carol” most likely to be available, sort of, is Bill Murray’s “Scooged.” It’s not the worst version—the musical starring Albert Finney wins that booby prize (“Thank you very much! Thank you very much!” Yecchh.)—but cynicism and dark humor really don’t belong in this story
My personal choice for the best adaptation goes to the 1984 George C. Scott version, if you don’t count “Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol,” and you probably shouldn’t, though I love it. The 1984 film has David Warner as Bob; Edward Woodward is the best (and tallest) Ghost of Christmas Present ever; and I think this is the scariest version of Marley.
Here it is…
Ethics Alarms 
Personally, I think it’s pretty clear that Kermit and Co. did it best.
My favorite version of Dickens’ classic happens to be the 1938 version with the Lockharts and Reginald Owen. It’s probably because it’s the first one I remember watching and I might be even more sappy and sentimental than you. I’ve seen many other renditions, but I keep coming back to what is “the original” for me.
I love the story. Ultimately, Ebenezer Scrooge must come to grips with that he is a rich man that has gained the world but totters on the brink of losing his soul. He is gifted a vision of a future in which the people in his world are either indifferent to his death or actually glad he’s gone.
That is – or should be – a horrifying notion to any of us.
And with regards to reading the book…
For many years, Doug Brown hosted a show on our local public-radio station called “The Book Club”. Every week night, he’d read books and I tuned in religiously, listening to everything from “The Charterhouse of Parma” to Freeman’s “Lee’s Lieutenants”. And every Christmas Eve, he would read “A Christmas Carol.” Doug died about twenty years ago, but the audio file still lives on google drive…
This is a link to that file. Feel free to remove it if necessary.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iZe9W3PKSP-Hq8yBhm03OZVtJepnVatQ/view
Our family loves the Muppets version. But the George C. Scott one is also great.
Allow me to wish you, Jack, and your family a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I read your blog every day and appreciate it greatly. It has shaped how I teach.
I clamor
Thanks.
I am
In the Alistair Simms court as being the best version. Perhaps that’s because like Joel that is the version I grew up watching and to which I compare all other versions.
I also have a copy of Weis Brothers production of Scrooge which is a silent film from 1922. My copy only runs for 10 of the original 22 minutes which means parts that had disintegrated were lost. Scrooge in that version is far more evil than Alistair Simms.
I too like the Mr Magoo version he was such a fine actor given his vision difficulties.🥸
Merry Christmas to you and the entire Marshall family
CM
This Christmas season, I made a point to see the Reginald Owen version, the Alistair Simm version, the George C. Scott version and the Patrick Stewart version. For me, Simm still wins out.
Merry Christmas to the Marshall family from East Tennessee, where we will have a rainy, sixty-degree Christmas Day if the weather forecast is to be trusted. Merry Christmas to the EA Commentariat as well.
I forgot about the Picard “Christmas Carol.” I don’t know why they bothered, with three decent versions already available.
For the first time, we went to see “A Christmas Carol” on stage at the Indianapolis Repertory Theatre this year. We were stunned that there were two front-row seats still available.
The stage was covered with fake snow that even went down onto the floor in front of the Minimal furnishings were moved around and changed during transition scenes and the ghosts came up out of trap doors on the stage floor.
8 actors played all of the roles. One little boy played a Christmas caroler, Tiny Tim and the kid Scrooge sent to buy the giant Bird for the Cratchits. The Ghost of Christmas Present was a black actor who hammed it up but good.
What we didn’t know when we got there is that our two front-row seats were part of what at a Zoo’s Dolphin Show would be the Splash Zone. Every time a trap door on the stage flung open and hit the piles of fake snow, it blew the torn white tissue paper right at us.
When Scrooge’s heart grew three sizes that day, he danced around and grabbed a handful of the stuff and threw it at us, hitting us in the face. He made sure to hit kids in the audience who were delighted at the interactive nature of the moment.
Apparently, this is a tradition at IRT’s annual “Carol” show. We had no idea. I’m still finding bits of fake snow on the car floor and at the bottom of bags.
It was, in TR’s parlance, DEE-lightful.
The Alistair Sim version is my sentimental favorite and the one I watched with my kids as a Christmas tradition. I think the George Scott and Patrick Stewart versions are most faithful to the book. The three spirits in the Scott version are definitely the best of the lot. I haven’t yet seen the Muppets version but I have enjoyed the clips I’ve seen and will get it in before the season is over. After all, we should keep Christmas in our hearts throughout the year. Merry Christmas to all.
Merry Christmas, I personally like Scrooged with Bill Murray. It at least deserves a mention, right?!
I mentioned it! In fact, there is one bit that makes me laugh every time: When Buddy Hackett as Scrooge is supposed to complain about the “street urchins,” instead calls them sea urchins, and gets in an argument with the script guy about it. Also Mary Lou Retton as Tiny Tim was inspired casting.
A superficially flawless, if unconventionally shaped, Guido Heirloom says Merry Christmas in its own way:
PWS
Merry Christmas to you and yours, Jack! And a Merry Christmas and/or Happy Holidays to everyone on Ethics Alarms!
I second both sentiments. This site has become my go-to…every single day, even on Christmas. Merry Christmas to you and your family, Jack. This site is a cul-de-sac of sanity in a world full of crazy. And a Merry Christmas to the readers and responders. I am smarter and more ethical because of what I read here.
What both Joel and fellow WESconsinite EC said!
PWS
A belated Merry Christmas, and early Happy New Yearto all in ER land, and especially to Jack (and family and dog)for all the work you do to bring us this blog!
Thank you. I needed that today….
https://ricochet.com/podcast/federalist-radio-hour/dickens-modernity-and-a-christmas-classic/
Really good conversation on this topic